Why do people just ignore road rules?

[Uratoh]

And I'm not even talking about 'oh you followed 20 feet too close, or didn't signal enough in advance/at all...' I'm talking about the rediculously dangerous stuff. Left turns on a red light, driving in BOTH lanes simultaniously (dotted line right down the middle of their car), that kind of stuff. I just see people do it all the time with no regard for anyone or anything. What's happened in the past couple years to make this get so much worse?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I see people ignoring road rules and common sense all the time. Drivers are the third worst offenders, cyclists are the second worst offenders, and pedestrians are by far the worst.

When I see a pedestrian actually paying attention to road rules I'm seriously amazed. It's like spotting a unicorn.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Because this is my road son. And I will drive however I like. Respect my authority.

 

[Tiger King]

this is why I hate driving, some people step into a car and think they are god, this includes being aggressive toward others for the smallest slight.

just SLOW DOWN! Let people through and
don't think your the only person on the road that knows what they are doing!

 

[Uratoh]

don't think your the only person on the road that knows what they are doing!

Actually that's how I tend to drive...I assume everyone else is some kind of drooling maniac, seconds away from snaping and suddenly trying to sideswipe me or the like. I'm heavily paranoid about other cars @_@. I just follow the rules and stay in line so if someone slams into me at 50 miles an hour, at least I know it won't be my fault.

 

[Private Custard]

Motorcyclist here. I tend to treat every other road user as if they're going to kill me at any moment.

I do this in the car as well as when I ride. A hell of a lot of motorcyclists develop a sixth-sense, making idiots far easier to spot....and read.

Sure I break the ruies on speeding when out away from built up areas, but if I put myself into a tree, it's my own fucking fault. I just can't stand the people that inconvenience and endanger everyone else, just because they're arseholes.

I've been paying a lot of attention to the types of car these arseholes drive. More often than not, they drive German cars, mostly BMW, VW, Audi and Mercedes. Not surprising really as they're aimed at the rude middle-classes. I see a lot of these cars come into the bodyshop I work in too. Generally they can't drive for shit and park using the 'when it bumps, I'm in the space' method. They also always want their door edges touched in from where they've opened them into other peoples vehicles in car parks.

I miss the days when it was only Volvos and Saabs we had to watch out for!

 

[Thaluikhain]

Rules are important, but not for awesome people like me. They're for everyone else, I'm too awesome to need them.

Every time there's talk of stricter rules about more or less anything, lots of people get upset and claim they are good responsible people who shouldn't be punished, the government is just clamping down etc etc. Pretending that that is true of the people saying that (which is not a given), not everyone is them, and there's not really a way to tell who is and who isn't.

 

[omega 616]

Left turns on a red light

Why left? You shouldn't be going through red lights, be it straight ahead, left or right.

On topic. "It's 'cos I am the most important person in the world and everybody should know where I want to go and should be 1 mile away at all times" basically.

The majority of people live in there own little world, surrounded by moving stone pillars, they notice you but only so they don't bump into you. They do not care you need to get past or they might be an inconvenience to you ... whether you're on the road or in a supermarket.

They will park in 2 disabled bays or across 4 normal spaces, if you see them indicate you should feel honored and if they thank you for letting them into traffic you should feel like the Queen of England knighted you, you filthy peasant!

I'm not a people person.

 

[Uratoh]

Left turns on a red light

Why left? You shouldn't be going through red lights, be it straight ahead, left or right.

Of course not. Was just a recent incident on my mind, etc. I was behind a fellow and we were both going to make a left turn, it was green on our side for going straight, but the left turn lane was red (meaning both sides were green for going straight). He just hit the turn and kept going at full speed, completely ignoring the light and not even checking for traffic.

I don't know where he went after that, for obvious reasons.

 

[Yuno Gasai]

I tend to assume other road users are ignorant, rude and/or terrible drivers. It means I'm always pleasantly surprised when people let me out (which is quite an amazing feat seeing as I live on a main road and most people are only really concerned with their own journeys)... I do also tend to leave a reasonably sized gap between my car and the car in front, because it gives me more leeway to react to them slowing down without braking and/or driving like utter eejits. I am amazed by the sheer number of people I have caught checking their phones while driving, though.

 

[kailus13]

One interesting thing to try is to keep track of how many drivers obey the laws. You'll likely see that there are many more of them than the idiots who don't, but you don't remember them. People screwing up are more memorable, sadly.

 

[Something Amyss]

Why left? You shouldn't be going through red lights, be it straight ahead, left or right.

Right turn on Red is legal in most areas of the US unless specifically marked. the idea being that the right turn crosses only one lane of traffic and so on and therefore is pretty safe. It eases traffic flow.

This is, of course in part because we drive on the wrong side of the road. that means right is the shortest distance to merge.

 

[Olas]

Where are you from OP?
Where I'm from, St. Louis Missouri, you almost never see people breaking the law or driving recklessly. Sometimes a person will speed by 5 - 10 mph, at which point they will swiftly be pulled over by our horrible corrupt parasitic traffic control officers and given a 200$ speeding ticket. There are cameras at all our stoplights, not just to catch people running red lights, but also to catch people speeding. I've been given a 100$ ticket because I was caught on camera driving through an intersection 7 miles over the speed limit.

If people did the type of stuff your talking about over here they'd probably wind up in prison before the day is out.

 

[lacktheknack]

Because screw the rules, they're in a car and have places to be.

This is why I hate driving, biking, and even crossing the street. Ever nearly been mown down by some guy who tried to go around a car that stopped at the crosswalk you're crossing? I actually accidentally kicked his car while jumping out of the way. He tried to get out of his car, presumably to beat me to death, but someone howled "YOU'RE IN A CROSSWALK!" and he just sped off.

 

[lacktheknack]

Where are you from OP?
Where I'm from, St. Louis Missouri, you almost never see people breaking the law or driving recklessly. Sometimes a person will speed by 5 - 10 mph, at which point they will swiftly be pulled over by our horrible corrupt parasitic traffic control officers and given a 200$ speeding ticket. There are cameras at all our stoplights, not just to catch people running red lights, but also to catch people speeding. I've been given a 100$ ticket because I was caught on camera driving through an intersection 7 miles over the speed limit.

If people did the type of stuff your talking about over here they'd probably wind up in prison before the day is out.

I fail to see the horrible parasitism of handing out tickets to speeders. STOP SPEEDING.

 

[jetriot]

I am so spoiled by light traffic in Wyoming the even driving down to Fort Collins or some other city around 50k people makes me stressed as hell. This coming from someone that learned to drive in Denver traffic during the T-Rex project.

 

[Agayek]

Why left? You shouldn't be going through red lights, be it straight ahead, left or right.

To be fair, it is legal, in the States at least, to turn right on a red light, assuming the road is clear.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Today I went through a busy intersection with a 30mph speed limit, the light changed red behind me, I glanced in my mirror to see a white car absolutely charging through the intersection, weaved through 3 cars through the traffic (2 lane road) and shot up the road past me, must have been doing at least 45.

As he shot past I noticed the big R in the back of the window (In Northern Ireland you must have an L plate for learning to drive, and an R plate for 1 year after you pass your test to show you are a new driver.)

I passed him about two minutes later when he was stuck in traffic at the next lights, teenage boy with the window fully down and his arm hanging out all cool with another teen beside him. They were driving what looked like a brand new 2 door Ford Fiesta as well.

I'm still a pretty new driver, but I've never seen someone drive with such ignorant abandon, and it was a new driver on a busy residential road during the frigging Friday school home rush. Seeing that really annoyed me.

 

[Randomosity]

Where are you from OP?
Where I'm from, St. Louis Missouri, you almost never see people breaking the law or driving recklessly. Sometimes a person will speed by 5 - 10 mph, at which point they will swiftly be pulled over by our horrible corrupt parasitic traffic control officers and given a 200$ speeding ticket. There are cameras at all our stoplights, not just to catch people running red lights, but also to catch people speeding. I've been given a 100$ ticket because I was caught on camera driving through an intersection 7 miles over the speed limit.

If people did the type of stuff your talking about over here they'd probably wind up in prison before the day is out.

I too am from the St. Louis Area and I wanna know what paradise you have found yourself in. I get cut off nearly every day, see people go through reds without issue. I have had people blow past me that had to be going at least 90. I got hit not long ago by someone merging into my lane without looking. Not to mention the people who dive across 4 lanes of traffic without even touching their turn signal. I've even seen cops do that.

 

[OuroborosChoked]

As a cyclist who obeys the rules for cyclists, bad drivers infuriate me. Car drivers are BY FAR the worst offenders simply because they're the biggest hazard. Pedestrians won't kill you. If a cyclist runs into you, you might get knocked over. A car will hospitalize you... and yet, EVERY DAY I see:

- Cars running red lights
- Cars speeding up to run lights
- Cars blocking intersections because they wanted to get through a red light but traffic was too backed up to allow it
- Cars making left turns through red lights well after the light changed because the car in front of them did the same thing
- Cars failing to signal turns
- Cars exceeding the speed limit by at least 10 MPH
- Cars making right turns at "No Turn On Red" intersections
- Drivers too busy to pay attention to the road or traffic signals because of their cell phones
- Cars DRIVING IN THE BIKE LANE
- Cars passing cyclists without proper clearance

Every. Day.

And never a cop to be seen...

And before you go all "well, I've seen cyclists run stop signs and riding without proper illumination blah blah blah": yeah, I have, too. I hate them, too. But going back to my earlier point, the worst they can do is get themselves killed or dent your metal and fiberglass deathmobile. Have some fucking perspective...